SPECIAL FROM Next AvenueBy Kathy MandryIs there a cure? A loud, chronic snorer investigates all her ...

1. One Woman's Quest to Stop Snoring
SPECIAL FROM Next Avenue
By Kathy Mandry
Is there a cure? A loud, chronic snorer investigates all her options
Its bedtime. I slip into my favorite flowered pajamas, brush my teeth, wash my face, smooth on
moisturizer, dab on eye cream, comb my hair back away from my face. As I size up my reflection in
the mirror, I know my attention to beauty will not prevent me, once asleep, from turning into a
beast.
Indelicate as it may be, I snore.
My snoring is so resonant that it shakes the bed. Martin, my husband, thinks he could manage if I
produced a steady, lulling, bass rhythm. "It would be more like white noise," he says. But it's a lot
louder than that.
"Record me," I've told him.
But he says I wouldnt want to hear it, that I would be shocked.
Maybe not. I come from a line of champion snorers. My mother and her siblings could shudder
floorboards, rattle windowpanes, emit creepy animal sounds in the night.
Its hard to take ownership of something you cant hear yourself doing. When I am awakened by a
"Stop snoring!" I am usually tangled up deep in a dream. Another rude awakening -- "Roll over!" --
and I cant get back to sleep.
Ive learned to move to the couch with my quilt and pillow, or to the small lounge in my office, or to
my sons old room. Some nights I just tuck in elsewhere from the start.
(More: How to Enjoy Better Sleep)

2. Im hardly alone. USA Today reports that 27 percent of couples over the age of 40 sleep in separate
bedrooms due to snoring.
According to the Dental Tribune International, an online publication for dentists, some 90 million
Americans snore. That figure includes 60 percent of men -- and 40 percent of women -- over the age
of 50.
Why more mid-lifers? As we get older, our breathing passages narrow, and air rushing through the
tighter spaces creates vibration in the saggier soft tissue at the back of the mouth. Ergo, loud
snoring.
There is, however, a difference between the sexes. When a man snores, everyone cracks jokes. When
a woman snores, no one wants to talk about it. Its just not feminine.
But if I ever hope to be cured, I have to find a solution. Over the last few years, that has meant
talking to a lot of people and asking a lot of questions.
So Many Cures, So Little Relief
I started snoring in my 40s, an occasional blip in the night. Going full-bore now in my 60s, I expected
medical science would have come up with a snore cure in these intervening years.
The snoring advice listed by WebMD is practical: no back sleeping, lose weight, stop smoking, avoid
alcohol, practice good sleep hygiene, open nasal passages, change the pillows, stay hydrated.
Except for drinking wine with dinner (okay, sometimes a little before or after), I already do all those
things. My weight is normal. I dont have allergies.
As Ive learned, snoring solutions are big business. You can find a plethora of over-the-counter
products: nasal strips, chin straps, mouthpieces, nasal sprays, supplements, pliable nasal breathing
aids. Some things work for some people. None of them worked for me.
A while back, while I was driving to meet a friend, an ad on my car radio touted a special pillow that
promised not only to better align the neck and head, but to stop the snoring. I raced to the

3. designated sleep shop and bought the pricey thing. My neck felt better in the morning, but I snored
as usual during the night. In subsequent radio ads, the snoring claim was dropped.
A Doctor's Remedies and Confession
Last winter, during my annual physical, I confided in my primary doctor. He laughed. He said if hed
known in medical school that snoring would be the most common complaint among his patients, he
might never have finished. Turns out, he snores too, and his wife wont wear earplugs. Its his
problem, she says, he should fix it.
"With two kids away in college," he told me, "there are plenty of spare beds in my house, but when
your partner banishes you from the bedroom, well, I can tell you what I do."
He then gave me three possible remedies:
Use Flonase at bedtime. This nasal spray is available only by prescription. Some nights it helped a
little, but other nights I still snored.
Watch my wine intake. So I watched it and saw my husband morph into a wine cop with warning
looks and bedtime interrogations. "How many glasses?" hed ask. I found out that I can snore after
just one glass, though not as badly as when I have two or more glasses. I also found out that I can
snore when I drink no wine.
Ask my dentist about a customized oral appliance. The device is designed to move the lower jaw and
tongue slightly forward to open up the airway. But my dentist told me hes seen erosion of the jaw
joints from such appliances and wouldnt recommend one.
My doctor also urged me to ask my husband to describe my snoring patterns to rule out choking or
gasping sounds, which could signal sleep apnea. Unlike ordinary snoring, apnea is a serious, even
life-threatening, condition.
Martin did not report choking or gasping sounds. Except for loud snoring, I apparently did not fit the
Mayo Clinics description of apnea: observed episodes of breathing cessation during sleep, abrupt
awakenings with shortness of breath, waking up with a dry mouth or sore throat, insomnia, a
morning headache.
Nope, I just snore.
Searching for a Snoring Solution
A few months ago, I was thrilled to see an ad in my local paper for a new clinic specializing in
medical solutions to snoring problems. They promised a cure. I raced over to the address and found
myself ensconced in a slick and tony space in an upscale, downtown San Francisco mall.
"There are reasons why you snore," said the clinics ENT as he examined me. He showed me images
of my saggy soft palate, enlarged nasal turbinates and slightly enlarged tongue. He offered to
implant plastic coils into my palate (the pillar procedure) to stiffen it up, and to perform coblation on
my turbinates (the removal and shrinkage of nasal tissue masses).
He could do all that right then and there -- for a few thousand dollars. Later, he might also need to
take away part of my uvula, that dangly thing that hangs at the back of the mouth.

4. His other suggestion: a sleep study, just in case I do have apnea (it would be a more reliable
indicator than my husband). The sleep study can be done in a sleep lab or at home. Your face, head
and chest are wired up to a small box that records the biophysical changes that occur during sleep,
including respiratory airflow, which could indicate apnea. If I was diagnosed with apnea Id have to
use the CPAP machine, a small, noisy air-pressure generator that connects to a nasal mask you wear
while sleeping. I told him Id think about all those options.
Its unrealistic to believe my snoring will somehow get better on its own. For that reason, Im still
considering a customized oral appliance and a sleep study.
I also just learned of a small nasal gadget for apnea called the Provent device, which was recently
approved by the FDA. According to ABC News, it worked on about half the people who've tried it. Its
worth checking out.
And I havent ruled out a surgical procedure. But if Im going to go that route, I want it to work
insurance doesnt cover the expense. That's not the only thing that gives me pause: I ran into a
woman I know who had the pillar procedure and turbinate coblation performed by the same ENT I
saw at the snoring solutions practice. "I snore just as badly as before," she told me.
Maybe I should learn to play the didgeridoo, an aboriginal wind instrument that some say can cure
snoring. And since a major hotel chain is currently in the trial phase of its "snore absorption room"
for hotels across Europe and the Middle East, I might just go off to live in Paris.
If all else fails, Ill convert my office into my bedroom. Ill replace my large desk with a smaller one
and get a new bed with a headboard, new pillows and a good reading light. Ill wear my flowered
pajamas and keep the door closed.
If no one can hear my beastly snoring, will I not be Beauty?
Kathy Mandry Cohn is an award-winning short story writer who lives in San Francisco. She runs the
family lavender farm in Sonoma, Calif.
Read More On Next Avenue:
7 Ways to Get a Good Night's Sleep
How Insomnia Led to a Thriving Small Business
Learn How To Enjoy Better Sleep
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/snoring_n_1694795.html